Unborn babies feels mother's stress too?

Pregnant women please do avoid much stress this may affect your foetus.... I came across this picture on the UK daily mail and felt its important I share with my readers, it is a picture showing a baby in the womb while their mothers undergo stress.

The remarkable image was taken as part of a study showing unborn children touch their faces more often if their mother has been anxious, helpless or under pressure

Although previous studies have found babies pick up on stress in the womb, this is believed to be the first to offer  photographic evidence.

Researcher Nadja Reissland from Durham University gave 15 mothers-to-be 4D ultrasound scans four times during their pregnancy.

Rather than the grainy, ‘flat’ images produced by the 2D scanners usually used by the NHS, a 4D machine stitches together pictures taken from a variety of angles to create clear three-dimensional pictures.

These are then recorded on video – the fourth dimension.

The mothers-to-be were quizzed on their  levels of stress in the month leading up to each scan and the videos were analysed to see how often the unborn babies touched their faces. In total, the eight girls and seven boys did so 342 times.

The more anxious the woman was, the more the unborn child mopped its brow, the journal Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition reported. Dr Reissland believes that the babies were picking up on an increase in the stress hormone cortisol being  produced by their mothers.

The study also found those whose mothers had been under pressure were more likely to use their left hand when touching their face.

This is significant because attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, depression and schizophrenia all more common in people who are left-handed.

Dr Reissland said: ‘Most mothers are fine and needn’t worry but some will need to think about reducing their stress.’